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… explanation of the saying of the Exalted: {وَاسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلاةِ} (And seek help in patience and prayer) Abu Jaʿfar said: By His words, exalted is His praise, "And seek help in patience (al-sabr … which is repugnant to you, namely submission to My command and following My Messenger Muhammad ﷺ - through patience with that and through prayer. * * * It has been said: The meaning of "the patience (al-sabr …
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: {وَاسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلاةِ} (And seek help in patience and prayer) Abū Jaʿfar said: By His words, exalted is His praise, "And seek help in patience (al-ṣabr)," He means: Seek help in fulfilling My covenant which you concluded with Me in your Book — namely, to obey Me, to follow My command, and to give up that which you desire — of leadership and love for the worldly — in favor of that which is repugnant to you, namely submission to My command and following My Messenger Muḥammad ﷺ — through patience with that and through prayer. * * * It has been said: The meaning of "the patience (al-ṣabr)" in this place is: fasting (al-ṣawm), and "fasting" is one of the meanings of "patience." The explanation of the one who interprets it thus is, according to us, that Allah, exalted is His mention, commanded them to exercise patience with that which their souls had an aversion to, namely obedience to Allah and the abandonment of disobedience to Him. The original meaning of al-ṣabr is: to restrain the soul from that which it loves, and to hold it back from its desire. Therefore, the one who is patient in a calamity is called "patient (ṣābir)," because he restrains his soul from despair. And the month of Ramaḍān is called "the month of patience (shahr al-ṣabr)," on account of the patience of those who fast in it, who abstain from food and drink during the day. And his "making them patient" of that means: his holding them and his restraining them from that, just as a criminal is "held" (taṣbiru) for the death penalty and is kept imprisoned for it until he is killed. Therefore one says: "so-and-so killed so-and-so ṣabran," by which one means: he held him until he killed him. The one killed is thus "held (maṣbūr)" and the killer is "holding (ṣābir)." * * * As for the prayer (al-ṣalāh), we have already mentioned its meaning previously. * * * If someone says to us: We have understood the meaning of the command to seek help in patience in fulfilling the covenant and observing obedience, but what then is the meaning of the command to seek help in prayer in obedience to Allah, the abandonment of disobedience to Him, divesting oneself of leadership, and forsaking the worldly? Then it is answered: In the prayer is the recitation of the Book of Allah, whose verses call to the rejection of the worldly and the forsaking of its enjoyments, which console the souls regarding its adornment and its deception, and which remind of the Hereafter and of what Allah has prepared therein for its inhabitants. In reflection upon that lies the help for the people of obedience to Allah to exert themselves therein, as is related from our Prophet ﷺ that, whenever a matter troubled him, he took refuge in prayer. 849 — Ismāʿīl ibn Mūsā al-Fazārī related that to me, saying: Al-Ḥusayn ibn Ritāq al-Hamdānī related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿIkrima ibn ʿAmmār, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd ib …
… explanation of His word: {وَأَنْ تَصْبِرُوا خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ} (25) ("and that you practice patience is better for you; and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful" (4:25)). Abu Jaʿfar said: He, exalted … praise, means thereby: "and that you practice patience (wa-an tasbiru)," O people, regarding the marrying of the slave-girls - "is better for you (khayrun lakum)" - "and Allah is Forgiving (wa-Llahu ghafur)" toward …
The explanation of His word: {أَنْ يَنْكِحَ الْمُحْصَنَاتِ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ فَمِنْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ مِنْ فَتَيَاتِكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ} ("that he marries free, believing women, then (let him marry) from what your right hands possess, namely your believing slave-girls"). Abū Jaʿfar said: He means thereby: and whoever of you, O people, does not have the means (ṭawl) — He means: from among the free — "to marry the chaste women (an yankiḥa al-muḥṣanāt)," which are the free women — "the believing (al-muʾmināt)," who have affirmed the oneness of Allah (tawḥīd) and the truth which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ brought. * * * And in accordance with what we have said concerning "al-muḥṣanāt" the exegetes have spoken. *Mention of who said that: 9062 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His word: "that he marries the chaste women." He says: that he marries the free women; then let him marry from the slave-girls (imāʾ) of the believers. 9063 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning His word: "that he marries the chaste, believing women, then from what your right hands possess." He said: "al-muḥṣanāt" are the free women; then let him marry the believing slave-girl (al-ama). 9064 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar. 9065 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: as for "your young women (fatayātikum)," they are your slave-girls (imāʾ). 9066 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Hushaym informed us, saying: Abū Bishr informed us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: "that he marries the chaste, believing women, then from what your right hands possess, namely your believing slave-girls." He said: whoever does not find that with which he may marry a free woman, let him marry a slave-girl (ama). 9067 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "that he marries the chaste, believing women, then from what your right hands possess, namely your believing slave-girls." He said: he does not find that with which he may marry a free woman, so he marries this slave-girl and preserves his chastity with her, and her owners are spared her maintenance by him. And Allah has permitted that to no one, except when he does not find that with which he may marry a free woman to provide for her, and it was not permitted to him until he fears fornication (zinā). 9068 — Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ḥabbān ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, sayi …
… false blood. He said: "Nay, your souls have made a matter [seem] fair to you. So beautiful patience is [my response], and Allah is the One whose help is sought against what you describe.") (verse … that is: your souls have made a matter [seem] fair to you. Concerning His word: (So beautiful patience is [my response]) - he says: My patience over what you have done to me in the matter …
The explanation of the words of Allah the Exalted: { وَجَاءُوا عَلَى قَمِيصِهِ بِدَمٍ كَذِبٍ قَالَ بَلْ سَوَّلَتْ لَكُمْ أَنْفُسُكُمْ أَمْرًا فَصَبْرٌ جَمِيلٌ وَاللَّهُ الْمُسْتَعَانُ عَلَى مَا تَصِفُونَ } (And they brought upon his shirt false blood. He said: "Nay, your souls have made a matter [seem] fair to you. So beautiful patience is [my response], and Allah is the One whose help is sought against what you describe.") (verse 18) Abū Jaʿfar says: Allah the Exalted says: (And they brought upon his shirt false blood) — Allah called it "false" because those who brought the shirt while the blood was upon it lied and said to Yaʿqūb: "This is the blood of Yūsuf" — although it was not his blood; it was the blood of a young goat (sakhla), as has been transmitted. Mention of those who said this: 18843. Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ṣamad al-Anṣārī related to me, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Shubl, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: (And they brought upon his shirt false blood) — he said: the blood of a young goat (sakhla). 18844. Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Shabāba related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: (And they brought upon his shirt false blood) — he said: the blood of a young goat (sakhla), a ewe. 18845. Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah: (with false blood) — he said: the blood of a young goat (sakhla), that is: of a ewe. 18846. Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shubl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah: (with false blood) — he said: the blood of a young goat (sakhla), a ewe. 18847. Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: (with false blood) — he said: that blood was false; it was not the blood of Yūsuf. 18848. Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid: (with false blood) — he said: the blood of a young goat (sakhla), a ewe. 18849. Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: (with false blood) — he said: the blood of a young goat. 18850. Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Muḥammad related to us, on the authority of Asbāṭ, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: They slaughtered a young goat from the flock and smeared the shirt with its blood. Then they came to their father. Yaʿqūb sa …
… They say to them: {سلام عليكم بما صبرتم} ("Peace be upon you, because of your patience") - that is, patience in obedience to your Lord in this world - {فنعم عقبى الدار} ("and how excellent … each year to the graves of the martyrs and say: "Peace be upon you, because of your patience; and how excellent is the final outcome of the Abode," and Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿUthman also …
They say to them: {سلام عليكم بما صبرتم} ("Peace be upon you, because of your patience") — that is, patience in obedience to your Lord in this world — {فنعم عقبى الدار} ("and how excellent is the final outcome of the Abode"). * * * And it has been related that the Gardens of ʿAdn (jannāt ʿAdn) have five thousand gates. 20342- Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAlī ibn Jarīr related to us, saying: Ḥammād ibn Salama related to us, on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Nāfiʿ ibn ʿĀṣim, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAmr, who said: In Paradise there is a palace called "ʿAdn"; around it are towers and meadows, and in it are five thousand gates; at each gate are five thousand ḥibara-garments (a kind of striped cloth from Yemen). None enters it but a prophet, a truthful one (ṣiddīq), or a martyr (shahīd). 20343- [illegible] said: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mughrāʾ related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His word: {جنات عدن} ("the Gardens of ʿAdn"), he said: It is the city of Paradise; in it are the messengers, the prophets, the martyrs, and the leaders of right guidance, and the people are around them, in the number of the gardens that surround them. * * * And from His word {والملائكة يدخلون عليهم من كل باب سلام عليكم} ("and the angels enter upon them through every gate: peace be upon you"), the word "they say" has been omitted, because the wording sufficiently indicates it, just as it has been omitted from His word: {وَلَوْ تَرَى إِذِ الْمُجْرِمُونَ نَاكِسُو رُءُوسِهِمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ رَبَّنَا أَبْصَرْنَا} ("And if you were to see when the criminals bow their heads before their Lord: 'Our Lord, we have seen…'") [Surah As-Sajdah:12]. * * * 20344- Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Baqiyya ibn al-Walīd, who said: Arṭāt ibn al-Mundhir related to me, saying: I heard a man from the elders of al-Jund, who was called "Abū al-Ḥajjāj," say: I was sitting with Abū Umāma, and he said: Truly, the believer will sit reclining on his couch when he enters Paradise, and beside him are two rows of attendants, and at the end of the two rows is a gate with a gatekeeper (bābun mubawwab). Then the angel comes and asks permission to enter; the furthest attendant says to the one beside him: "An angel asks permission," and the one beside him says to the one beside him: "An angel asks permission," until it reaches the believer, and he says: "Give permission." Then the one closest to the believer says: "Give permission," and the one beside him says to the one beside him: "Give permission," and so on until it reaches the furthest one, who stands at the gate, and he opens for him; then he enters, gives the greeting, and then departs. 20345- Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad, o …
… الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلاةِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ} (153) ("O you who believe, seek help through patience (sabr) and the ritual prayer (salah); truly, Allah is with the patient.") (153) Abu Jaʿfar said: This … that afflicts the bodies and the possessions. So He said: "O you who believe, seek help through patience (sabr) and the ritual prayer (salah)" - in carrying out obedience to Me, and in fulfilling My obligations …
The statement concerning the explanation of His words, the Exalted: {يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلاةِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ} (153) ("O you who believe, seek help through patience (ṣabr) and the ritual prayer (ṣalāh); truly, Allah is with the patient.") (153) Abū Jaʿfar said: This verse is an exhortation from Allah, whose remembrance is exalted, to obedience to Him, and to bearing patiently the detestable part of it that afflicts the bodies and the possessions. So He said: "O you who believe, seek help through patience (ṣabr) and the ritual prayer (ṣalāh)" — in carrying out obedience to Me, and in fulfilling My obligations regarding that part of My ordinances which is abrogating, and in turning away from that which I abrogate of it toward that which I newly introduce for you of My obligations, and toward which I transfer you of My ordinances, and in submission to My command concerning that which I command you at the moment that I bind you to its ruling, and in turning away from it after I have turned you away from it — even if there befalls you thereby something detestable from the sayings of your enemies among the disbelievers (kuffār), in that they assail you with falsehood, or a hardship for your bodies in carrying it out, or a diminution in your possessions — and in the jihād against your enemies and in fighting them upon My path, through your patience for My sake with the detestable part of it and with its hardship for you, and through bearing its weight and its burden, and then through your recourse — in that which befalls you of distressing matters — to prayer to Me. For truly, through patience with the adversities you attain My good pleasure, and through prayer to Me you obtain what you desire from Me, and you reach what you need from Me. For truly, I am with the patient in carrying out the fulfillment of My obligations and the abandonment of disobedience to Me; I help them, watch over them, and protect them, until they triumph through that which they have desired and hoped for from Me. * * * And I have already set forth the meaning of "patience (al-ṣabr)" and "the prayer (al-ṣalāh)" previously, and therefore we have deemed it disagreeable to repeat that, such as: 2315 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ādam related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, concerning His words: "and seek help through patience and the prayer," he says: seek help through patience and the prayer in attaining the good pleasure of Allah, and know that both of them belong to the obedience of Allah. 2316 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His words: "O you who believe, seek help through patience and the prayer," know that both of them are a help in the obedience of Allah. * * * As for His words: "truly, Allah is with th …
… with the like measure of the punishment with which your wrongdoer afflicted you. But if you show patience regarding punishing him, and take into account before Allah the wrong that … Allah says: The patient endurance of punishing him is, for that reason, better for the people of patience, out of reckoning with Allah and seeking His reward. For Allah recompenses him for the pleasure …
Allah, the Exalted, says to the believers: If you, O believers, wish to punish the one who wronged you and attacked you, then punish him with the like measure of the punishment with which your wrongdoer afflicted you. But if you show patience regarding punishing him, and take into account before Allah the wrong that he did to you, and leave his affair to Him so that He is the One who undertakes his punishment — { لَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لِلصَّابِرِينَ } — Allah says: The patient endurance of punishing him is, for that reason, better for the people of patience, out of reckoning with Allah and seeking His reward. For Allah recompenses him for the pleasure of the revenge that he wished to take upon his wrongdoer for his wrongdoing against him with the pleasure of victory. The pronoun in { لَهُوَ } refers to patience, and this is appropriate — even though patience was not mentioned before it — because of the indication of His word { وَلَئِنْ صَبَرْتُمْ } pointing to it. The exegetes differed concerning the reason why this verse was revealed and concerning the question whether it is abrogated or still in force. Some said: It was revealed because the Prophet ﷺ and his companions on the Day of Uḥud swore an oath — after the polytheists had done to the slain of the Muslims what they did in the way of mutilating them — that they would surpass that in mutilation if they should ever overcome them. Allah forbade them that through this verse and commanded them to limit themselves to equal retaliation if they should overcome, and then commanded them to abandon mutilation and to prefer patience over it with His word { وَاصْبِرْ وَمَا صَبْرُكَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ }. By that, according to them, He abrogated what He had permitted them of mutilation. Those who said that: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: al-Muʿtamir related to us, he said: I heard Dāwūd, on the authority of ʿĀmir: The Muslims said, after the polytheists on the Day of Uḥud had done to their slain what they did: "If we overcome them, we will do such and such." Allah, the Exalted, then revealed: { وَإِنْ عَاقَبْتُمْ فَعَاقِبُوا بِمِثْلِ مَا عُوقِبْتُمْ بِهِ وَلَئِنْ صَبَرْتُمْ لَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لِلصَّابِرِينَ }. They said: We will be patient. Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, he said: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿĀmir: he said: When the Muslims saw what the polytheists did to their slain on the Day of Uḥud — the opening of the bellies, the cutting off of the genitals, and the severe mutilation — they said: "If Allah gives us victory over them, we will do such and such." Allah revealed concerning them: { وَلَئِنْ صَبَرْتُمْ لَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لِلصَّابِرِينَ * وَاصْبِرْ وَمَا صَبْرُكَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ }. Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of some of his companions, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār: he said: The entire sūra al-Naḥl was revealed in Mecca and is Meccan, …
… temptation that leads astray and the disaster that the hearts of men cannot withstand, nor can their patience endure it." Allah, the Exalted, said to him: "Go, for I have given you power over … that strikes them, that they might take him as an example and hope, from the outcome of patience in the transience of this world, for the reward of the Hereafter and for what Allah …
And Ayyūb, when he called upon his Lord: "Verily, adversity has afflicted me, and You are the Most Merciful of the merciful." The exegesis of His word, the Exalted: {And Ayyūb, when he called upon his Lord: "Verily, adversity has afflicted me, and You are the Most Merciful of the merciful."} The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says to His prophet Muḥammad, the Prophet ﷺ: And remember Ayyūb, O Muḥammad, when he called upon his Lord while adversity and trial had afflicted him. The adversity that struck him and the trial that descended upon him were a testing from Allah for him and a trial. And the cause of that was as [follows]: 18673 - Muḥammad ibn Sahl ibn ʿAskar al-Bukhārī related to me, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Hishām related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil related to me, saying: I heard Wahb ibn Munabbih say: The beginning of the affair of Ayyūb the truthful, the blessings of Allah be upon him, was that he was patient, an excellent servant. Wahb said: Jibrīl has with Allah a rank that none of the angels has with respect to nearness to Allah and favor with Him; and Jibrīl is the one who receives the word. When Allah remembers a servant with good, Jibrīl receives it from Him, then Mīkāʾīl receives it, and around him are the near angels, ranged about the Throne. And when this spread among the near angels, the benediction over that servant was [performed] by the inhabitants of the heavens; and when the angels of the heavens performed the benediction over him, they descended with it to the angels of the earth. And Iblīs was barred from nothing of the heavens; he stood therein wherever he wished as they desired, and from there he reached Ādam when He expelled him from the Garden. He kept ascending thus into the heavens, until Allah raised up ʿĪsā ibn Maryam, after which he was barred from four [heavens] and ascended into three. When Allah sent Muḥammad ﷺ, he was barred from the three remaining; thus he is barred, he and all his hosts, from all the heavens until the Day of Resurrection, {except him who steals a hearing, then there pursues him a clear flame} (15:18). And for that reason the jinn denied what they used to know, when they said: {And we touched the heaven and found it filled with stern guards} (72:8) up to His word: {a watching flame} (72:9). Wahb said: Iblīs was disturbed by nothing except the angels' calling back and forth with the benediction over Ayyūb, and that was when Allah had remembered and praised him. When Iblīs heard the benediction of the angels, rebellion and envy overcame him, and he ascended swiftly until he stood before Allah at a place where he used to stand, and he said: "O my God, I have looked at the affair of Your servant Ayyūb, and I found him a servant upon whom You have poured out favors, whereupon he thanked You, and to whom You have granted health, whereupon he praised You; but You have not afflicted him with adversity nor tested him with calamity. And I guarantee You: if You were to st …
… الْحَكِيمُ } (He said: Nay, but your souls have made a matter seem fair to you; so comely patience. Perhaps Allah will bring them all to me together; He is indeed the All-Knowing … made fair to you a matter which you had resolved upon and which you desired. (so comely patience) - he says: my patience over what has befallen me through the loss of my sons …
The statement concerning the explanation of the saying of Allah the Exalted: { قَالَ بَلْ سَوَّلَتْ لَكُمْ أَنْفُسُكُمْ أَمْرًا فَصَبْرٌ جَمِيلٌ عَسَى اللَّهُ أَنْ يَأْتِيَنِي بِهِمْ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ } (He said: Nay, but your souls have made a matter seem fair to you; so comely patience. Perhaps Allah will bring them all to me together; He is indeed the All-Knowing, the All-Wise) (83) Abū Jaʿfar said: In the text something has been omitted, namely: The brothers of Binyāmīn returned to their father, while Rūbīl stayed behind, and they informed him of what had happened. When they informed him that he had stolen, he said: (Nay, but your souls have made a matter seem fair to you) — he says: Nay, but your souls have made fair to you a matter which you had resolved upon and which you desired. (so comely patience) — he says: my patience over what has befallen me through the loss of my sons is a comely patience, without lamentation or complaint in it. (Perhaps Allah will bring all my children together for me and return them to me.) (He is indeed the All-Knowing) of my loneliness, and of their absence, and my grief over them, and the truth of what they say concerning his lie. (the All-Wise) in His governance over His creation. * * * In accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes spoke. Mention of who said that: 19644 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his saying: (Nay, but your souls have made a matter seem fair to you, so comely patience) — he says: they made it fair. And his saying: (Perhaps Allah will bring them all to me together) — he says: Yūsuf, his brother, and Rūbīl. 19645 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: When they brought that to Yaʿqūb — meaning the words of Rūbīl to them — he accused them and suspected that this was a repetition of their deed against Yūsuf. Then he said: (Nay, but your souls have made a matter seem fair to you, so comely patience; perhaps Allah will bring them all to me together) — that is: Yūsuf, his brother, and Rūbīl.
… averted the punishment from yourselves. But we have succumbed to the punishment; neither our succumbing nor our patience has availed us. (8) {سَوَاءٌ عَلَيْنَا أَجَزِعْنَا أَمْ صَبَرْنَا مَا لَنَا مِن مَّحِيصٍ} (it is the same … people! You see what punishment and trial has descended upon you. Come, let us be patient - perhaps patience will avail us, just as the people in the worldly life were patient in obedience to Allah …
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His words — {وَبَرَزُوا لِلَّهِ جَمِيعًا} (and they all appeared before Allah) — Allah, exalted be His remembrance, means that those who disbelieved in Him will, on the Day of Resurrection, rise up from their graves and find themselves in the open, exposed part of the earth (4), all together — that is to say: all of them. {فَقَالَ الضُّعَفَاءُ لِلَّذِينَ اسْتَكْبَرُوا} (and the weak will say to those who were arrogant) — He means: the followers among them will say to those who were followed, namely those who in the worldly life were too proud to devote themselves sincerely and purely to Allah and to follow the messengers who were sent to them. (6) {إِنَّا كُنَّا لَكُمْ تَبَعًا} (we were your followers) — in the worldly life. "Al-tabaʿ" is the plural of "tābiʿ" (follower), just as "al-ghayab" is the plural of "ghāʾib" (one who is absent). What they meant by: {إِنَّا كُنَّا لَكُمْ تَبَعًا} is that they followed them in the worldly life, obedient to their commands regarding the worship of idols and disbelief (kufr) in Allah, and that they abstained from what they forbade, namely the following of the messengers of Allah. {فَهَلْ أَنتُم مُّغْنُونَ عَنَّا مِنْ عَذَابِ اللَّهِ مِن شَيْءٍ} (can you avert anything of the punishment of Allah from us?) — they mean: can you today avert anything of the punishment of Allah from us? (7) Ibn Jurayj said something of similar import: 20638 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning His words: {وَقَالَ الضُّعَفَاءُ}: the followers; {لِلَّذِينَ اسْتَكْبَرُوا}: to the leaders. As for His words: {لَوْ هَدَانَا اللَّهُ لَهَدَيْنَاكُمْ} (if Allah had guided us, we would have guided you) — Allah, mighty and glorified be His remembrance, says: the leaders in disbelief (kufr) in Allah say to their followers: {لَوْ هَدَانَا اللَّهُ} — they mean: had Allah made clear to us something by which we could today avert His punishment from ourselves, {لَهَدَيْنَاكُمْ} — then we would have made that clear to you as well, so that you could have averted the punishment from yourselves. But we have succumbed to the punishment; neither our succumbing nor our patience has availed us. (8) {سَوَاءٌ عَلَيْنَا أَجَزِعْنَا أَمْ صَبَرْنَا مَا لَنَا مِن مَّحِيصٍ} (it is the same for us whether we complain or are patient — we have no escape) — they mean: there is for them no recourse by which they may escape. (9) For this one says: "ḥāṣa ʿan kadhā" when he wishes to flee from it, "yaḥīṣu ḥayṣan, wa-ḥuyūṣan, wa-ḥayaṣānan". (10) 20639 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of ʿUmar ibn Abī Laylā, one of the Banū ʿĀmir, who said: I heard Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī say: it reached me, or it was mentioned to me, that the inhabitants of the Fire said to one another: "O people! You see what punishment and trial has descended upon …
… saying {fa-sbir sabran jamila} (So be patient with a beautiful patience). The Exalted in mention says: {fa-sbir sabran jamila} (So be patient with a beautiful patience), that is to say: a patience … said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying {fa-sbir sabran jamila} (So be patient with a beautiful patience): he said: this was when He was still commanding him to pardon them and not to requite …
And His saying {fa-ṣbir ṣabran jamīlā} (So be patient with a beautiful patience). The Exalted in mention says: {fa-ṣbir ṣabran jamīlā} (So be patient with a beautiful patience), that is to say: a patience in which there is no disquiet. He says to him: be patient with the harm that these polytheists (mushrikīn) inflict upon you, and do not let the displeasure that you experience from them turn you away from conveying to them that which your Lord has commanded you to deliver of the message. Ibn Zayd used to say concerning this what Yūnus related to me about it, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying {fa-ṣbir ṣabran jamīlā} (So be patient with a beautiful patience): he said: this was when He was still commanding him to pardon them and not to requite them; but when the jihād and severity against them was commanded to him, the harshness and the killing were commanded to him until they would desist, and this was abrogated (nasakha). And this which Ibn Zayd said — that he had been commanded by this āya to pardon and that this was subsequently abrogated — is a statement for which there is no basis, for there is no proof of the correctness of what he said by way of any of the paths by which assertions are made valid. And in Allah's command to His Prophet ﷺ to the beautiful patience at the harm of the polytheists there is nothing that necessitates that this would be a command from Him to him for only some of the circumstances; rather it was a command from Allah to him for all circumstances, for he ﷺ, from the moment that Allah sent him until the moment that He took him away, was continually amid harm from them, and he was throughout all of that patient with what he experienced of harm from them, both before Allah granted him permission to fight them and after His permission to that.
… exegetes differed concerning the meaning of al-ʿazm here. Some of them said: its meaning is patience (sabr). Mention of those who said this: Bishr related to us, saying: Yazid related to us, saying: Saʿid … authority of Qatada, his word { وَلَمْ نَجِدْ لَهُ عَزْمًا }: that is to say: patience. Muhammad ibn Bashshar related to us, saying: Muhammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority …
The statement concerning the explanation of the words of Allah the Exalted: { وَلَقَدْ عَهِدْنَا إِلَى آدَمَ مِنْ قَبْلُ فَنَسِيَ وَلَمْ نَجِدْ لَهُ عَزْمًا } ("And We had aforetime made a covenant with Ādam, but he forgot, and We found in him no firm resolve") (20:115) Allah the Exalted says: And if, O Muḥammad, those for whom We have set forth the threat in manifold ways in this Qurʾān neglect My covenant, defy My command, abandon obedience to Me, follow the command of their enemy Iblīs, and obey him in defying My command — then that is precisely what their father Ādam did aforetime. { وَلَقَدْ عَهِدْنَا إِلَى } — He says: We charged Ādam and said to him: { إِنَّ هَذَا عَدُوٌّ لَكَ وَلِزَوْجِكَ فَلا يُخْرِجَنَّكُمَا مِنَ الْجَنَّةِ } ("Verily, this is an enemy to you and to your wife, so let him not drive you both out of the Garden (janna)"). But the devil (shayṭān) whispered to him and he obeyed him, defied My command, and the punishment from Me befell him as it befell him. By His word ("aforetime") He, the Exalted, means: before these people about whom He has informed that He set forth the threat for them in manifold ways in this Qurʾān. His word ("but he forgot") — He says: he abandoned My covenant. As ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me on the authority of ʿAlī, from Ibn ʿAbbās, regarding his word { وَلَقَدْ عَهِدْنَا إِلَى آدَمَ مِنْ قَبْلُ فَنَسِيَ }: he says: he neglected it. Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, regarding his word ("but he forgot"): he said: he neglected the command of his Lord. Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, regarding his word { وَلَقَدْ عَهِدْنَا إِلَى آدَمَ مِنْ قَبْلُ فَنَسِيَ وَلَمْ نَجِدْ لَهُ عَزْمًا }: he said: He said to him: { يَا آدَمُ إِنَّ هَذَا عَدُوٌّ لَكَ وَلِزَوْجِكَ فَلا يُخْرِجَنَّكُمَا مِنَ الْجَنَّةِ فَتَشْقَى } ("O Ādam! Verily, this is an enemy to you and to your wife, so let him not drive you both out of the Garden, lest you be wretched"). And he recited until he reached { لا تَظْمَأُ فِيهَا وَلا تَضْحَى } ("therein you will neither thirst nor suffer the heat"); and he recited until he reached { وَمُلْكٍ لا يَبْلَى } ("and a kingdom that never decays"). He said: but he forgot what had been charged to him therein. He said: this was Allah's covenant with him. He said: and had he possessed firm resolve (ʿazm), he would not have obeyed his enemy who envied him, who refused to make a prostration (sujūd) before him together with those who made a prostration before him, and who disobeyed Allah — He who had honored and exalted him and commanded His angels to make a prostration before him. Ibn al-Muthannā and Ibn Bashshār related to us — both of them said: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, and Muʾammal related to us — they said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority …
… they marched out against Jalut [Goliath] and his armies, they said: Our Lord, pour out upon us patience, make our feet firm, and help us against the disbelieving people) (2:250) Abu Jaʿfar said … himself to the ghaʾit of the land. * * * As for His statement "Our Lord, pour out upon us patience": by it is meant that Talut and his companions said: "Our Lord, pour out upon us patience …
The discourse on the explanation of His statement, the Exalted: {وَلَمَّا بَرَزُوا لِجَالُوتَ وَجُنُودِهِ قَالُوا رَبَّنَا أَفْرِغْ عَلَيْنَا صَبْرًا وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَنَا وَانْصُرْنَا عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْكَافِرِينَ} (250) (And when they marched out against Jālūt [Goliath] and his armies, they said: Our Lord, pour out upon us patience, make our feet firm, and help us against the disbelieving people) (2:250) Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, means by His statement "and when they marched out against Jālūt and his armies": and when Ṭālūt [Saul] and his armies marched out against Jālūt and his armies. * * * The meaning of His statement "barazū" (they marched out) is: they betook themselves to the barāz of the land, that is, that part of it which lies open and level. For this reason one says of the man who relieves himself: "tabarraza" (he went out to relieve himself), because the people in former times, in the age of ignorance (jāhiliyya), used to relieve themselves in the barāz of the land. That is just as one says: "taghawwaṭa," because they used to relieve themselves in the ghāʾiṭ of the land, that is, the low-lying part of it; and so one says of the men "taghawwaṭa," that is: he betook himself to the ghāʾiṭ of the land. * * * As for His statement "Our Lord, pour out upon us patience": by it is meant that Ṭālūt and his companions said: "Our Lord, pour out upon us patience," that is: send down patience upon us. * * * And His statement "and make our feet firm" means: and strengthen our hearts in the struggle (jihād) against them, so that our feet may remain firm and we may not take flight before them = "and help us against the disbelieving people," those who disbelieved in You and thus denied You as God and worshipped another than You, and took the idols as lords. ---------- Footnotes: (37) In the manuscript and the printed edition it reads "lidhālika kamā qīla" ("for this reason, as was said"), but the context requires what has been established, and "lidhālika" does not form part of the preceding sentence.
… يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اصْبِرُوا وَصَابِرُوا وَرَابِطُوا} ("O you who believe, be patient, be more steadfast [in patience than your enemies], and keep guard (rabitu)") (3:200) Abu Jaʿfar [al-Tabari] said: The scholars … obedience to your Lord. And that is because Allah did not except, from among the meanings of "patience (sabr)" concerning the religion and obedience, anything that would permit it to be placed outside the literal …
The discourse on the explanation of His statement: {يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اصْبِرُوا وَصَابِرُوا وَرَابِطُوا} ("O you who believe, be patient, be more steadfast [in patience than your enemies], and keep guard (rābiṭū)") (3:200) Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: The scholars of exegesis differed concerning the explanation of this. Some of them said: the meaning of this is: "Be patient concerning your religion, be more steadfast than the disbelievers (kuffār), and keep guard against them (rābiṭū)." Mention of who said that: 8386 - Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of al-Mubārak ibn Faḍāla, on the authority of al-Ḥasan [al-Baṣrī]: that he heard him say concerning the statement of Allah: "O you who believe, be patient, be more steadfast, and keep guard" — he said: He commanded them to be patient concerning their religion and not to abandon it, neither in hardship nor in prosperity, neither in joy nor in adversity; and He commanded them to be more steadfast than the disbelievers (kuffār), and to keep guard against the polytheists (mushrikīn). 8387 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, [concerning] his statement: "O you who believe, be patient, be more steadfast, and keep guard", that is: be patient in obedience to Allah, be more steadfast than the people of misguidance, and keep guard in the path of Allah = "and fear Allah, so that you may succeed". 8388 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his statement: "Be patient, be more steadfast, and keep guard", he says: Be more steadfast than the polytheists (mushrikīn) and keep guard in the path of Allah. 8389 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: Be patient in obedience, be more steadfast than the enemies of Allah, and keep guard in the path of Allah. 8390 - Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib related to me, saying: Yazīd informed us, saying: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning his statement: "Be patient, be more steadfast, and keep guard", he said: Be patient concerning that which you have been commanded, be more steadfast than the enemy, and keep guard against them. * * * And others said: the meaning of this is: be patient concerning your religion, be steadfast [in awaiting] My promise to you for your obedience to Me, and keep guard against your enemies. * Mention of who said that: 8391 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Abū Ṣakhr informed me, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī: that he used to say concerning this verse: "Be patient, be more steadfast, and keep guard", he says: Be patient concerning your religion, be steadfast [in awaiting] the promise that I have made to you, and keep guard against My ene …
… deeds {مَرَّتَيْنِ بِمَا صَبَرُوا} (twice, because they were patient). The exegetes differed concerning the meaning of the patience for which Allah promised what He promised. Some said: He promised them what He promised, mighty … praise, on account of their patience with respect to the first Book, their following of Muhammad - Allah's peace and blessings be upon him - and their patience therein. That is the statement of Qatada, which …
The explanation of His word, the Exalted: {أُولَئِكَ يُؤْتَوْنَ أَجْرَهُمْ مَرَّتَيْنِ بِمَا صَبَرُوا وَيَدْرَءُونَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ السَّيِّئَةَ وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنْفِقُونَ} (These will receive their reward twice, because they were patient and ward off evil with good and spend out of what We have provided them) (54). The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: These, whose characteristic I have described, {يُؤْتَوْنَ} (will receive) the reward for their deeds {مَرَّتَيْنِ بِمَا صَبَرُوا} (twice, because they were patient). The exegetes differed concerning the meaning of the patience for which Allah promised what He promised. Some said: He promised them what He promised, mighty is His praise, on account of their patience with respect to the first Book, their following of Muḥammad — Allah's peace and blessings be upon him — and their patience therein. That is the statement of Qatāda, which we have already mentioned earlier. Others said: No, He promised them on account of their patience by means of their belief in Muḥammad — Allah's peace and blessings be upon him — before he was sent, and by means of their following of him when he was sent. That is the statement of al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim, which we have likewise already mentioned earlier. And among those who agreed with Qatāda in his statement is ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd. Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word: {إِنَّا كُنَّا مِنْ قَبْلِهِ مُسْلِمِينَ} (Verily, we were already before it Muslims): upon the religion (dīn) of ʿĪsā; and when the Prophet — Allah's peace and blessings be upon him — came, they submitted (aslamū). Thus there was for them their reward twice: because they were patient the first time, and they entered into Islam with the Prophet — Allah's peace and blessings be upon him. And a group said concerning it what Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: My father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: There was a people who were polytheists (mushrikīn) and converted to Islam, and their people inflicted harm upon them; then it was revealed: {أُولَئِكَ يُؤْتَوْنَ أَجْرَهُمْ مَرَّتَيْنِ بِمَا صَبَرُوا} (These will receive their reward twice, because they were patient). And His word: {وَيَدْرَءُونَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ السَّيِّئَةَ} (and ward off evil with good), He says: and they ward off their evil deeds with the good deeds that they perform; {وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ} (and out of what We have provided them) of possessions {يُنْفِقُونَ} (they spend) in obedience to Allah, whether in jihād on the path of Allah, or in alms to a needy person, or in maintaining the ties of kinship. Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: {وَإِذَا يُتْلَى عَلَيْهِمْ قَالُوا آمَنَّا بِهِ إِنَّهُ الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّنَا إِنَّا كُنَّا مِنْ قَبْلِهِ مُسْلِمِينَ} (And when it is recited to them, they say: …
… Humayd related to us, saying: Jarir related to us, on the authority of Mughira, who said: Patience is half of faith, and gratitude is half of faith, and certainty (al-yaqin): that is the whole … لآياتٍ لكُلّ صَبَّارٍ شَكُورٍ } (indeed, in that are signs for everyone exceedingly patient and grateful). He said: Patience is half of faith, and certainty: that is the whole of faith. If someone were …
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: { أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ الْفُلْكَ تَجْرِي فِي الْبَحْرِ بِنِعْمَةِ اللَّهِ لِيُرِيَكُمْ مِنْ آيَاتِهِ إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لآيَاتٍ لِكُلِّ صَبَّارٍ شَكُورٍ } (31) (Have you not seen that the ships sail upon the sea by the favor of Allah, that He may show you something of His signs? Indeed, in that are signs for everyone exceedingly patient and grateful. (31)) The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: Have you not seen, O Muḥammad, that the ships sail upon the sea as a favor of Allah to His creatures? { لِيُرِيَكُمْ مِنْ آيَاتِهِ } (that He may show you something of His signs). He says: that He may show you something of His lessons and His proofs against you. { إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لآيَاتٍ لِكُلِّ صَبَّارٍ شَكُورٍ } (Indeed, in that are signs for everyone exceedingly patient and grateful). He says: indeed, in the sailing of the ships upon the sea there lies an indication that Allah, who made them sail, is the Truth, and that whatever they call upon besides Him is the false. { لكُلِّ صَبَّارٍ شَكُورٍ } (for everyone exceedingly patient and grateful). He says: for everyone who patiently restrains himself from what Allah has forbidden, and thanks Him for His favors and is not ungrateful to Him for them. Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: Muṭarrif used to say: Indeed, among the most beloved of the servants of Allah to Him is: the exceedingly patient, the grateful. Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, who said: Patience is half of faith, and gratitude is half of faith, and certainty (al-yaqīn): that is the whole of faith. Have you not looked at His saying: { إنَّ فِي ذلكَ لآياتٍ لكُلّ صَبَّارٍ شَكُورٍ } (indeed, in that are signs for everyone exceedingly patient and grateful), { إنَّ فِي ذلكَ لآياتٍ للْمُوقِنينَ } (indeed, in that are signs for those who are certain), { إنَّ فِي ذلكَ لآياتٍ للْمُؤْمِنينَ } (indeed, in that are signs for the believers)? Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī: { إنَّ فِي ذلكَ لآياتٍ لكُلّ صَبَّارٍ شَكُورٍ } (indeed, in that are signs for everyone exceedingly patient and grateful). He said: Patience is half of faith, and certainty: that is the whole of faith. If someone were to say: How is it that this indication is reserved in particular as an indication for the exceedingly patient, grateful one, and not for the rest of the creatures? Then it is answered: because patience and gratitude belong to the deeds of people of intellect and reason. Therefore He announced that therein are indeed signs for everyone possessing intellect, for Allah has made the signs into lessons for people of reason and discernment.
… Yunus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning "al-sabr" (patience): constancy. He said, and he mentioned "al-sabr" in both cases: patience for Allah's sake in what … wills, even though that weighs upon the inner self and the body, and patience from what He does not will, even though desire is drawn toward it. Whoever is thus belongs to the patient ones …
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah the Exalted says: and those who were steadfast in fulfilling the covenant with Allah, in refraining from breaking the pact, and in maintaining the bonds of kinship — { ابْتِغَاءَ وَجْهِ رَبِّهِمْ } — and by His word { ابْتِغَاءَ وَجْهِ رَبِّهِمْ } He means: desiring the glorification of Allah and sanctifying Him from any transgression of His command, or the committing of anything by which He does not wish, such that they would be disobedient to Him therein — { وَأَقَامُوا الصَّلاةَ } — He says: and those who perform the obligatory ritual prayer (ṣalāh) with observance of its prescriptions and at the appointed times — { وَأَنْفَقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ سِرًّا وَعَلانِيَةً } — He says: and those who pay from their possessions the obligatory alms-tax (zakāh) and spend out of it upon the paths in which Allah has commanded them to spend — "in secret" covertly, and "openly" in public. As: 20335 — Al-Mutannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh b. Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word { وَأَقَامُوا الصَّلاةَ } — he means the five prayers; { وَأَنْفَقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ سِرًّا وَعَلانِيَةً } — he means the zakāh. 20336 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning "al-ṣabr" (patience): constancy. He said, and he mentioned "al-ṣabr" in both cases: patience for Allah's sake in what He wills, even though that weighs upon the inner self and the body, and patience from what He does not will, even though desire is drawn toward it. Whoever is thus belongs to the patient ones. And he recited: { سَلامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ بِمَا صَبَرْتُمْ فَنِعْمَ عُقْبَى الدَّارِ } (Sūrat al-Raʿd:24). And His word { وَيَدْرَءُونَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ السَّيِّئَةَ } — He says: and they ward off the wrong from whoever wrongs them, by being good toward him. As: 20337 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word { وَيَدْرَءُونَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ السَّيِّئَةَ } — he said: they repel evil with good; they do not requite evil with evil, but repel it with good. And His word { أُولَئِكَ لَهُمْ عُقْبَى الدَّارِ } — Allah the Exalted says: these whose qualities We have described are those for whom holds { لَهُمْ عُقْبَى الدَّارِ } — He says: they are those to whom Allah has given Paradise as the final destination, in place of the abode they would have had in the Fire had they not been believers; Allah gave them this in place of that abode. And it has also been said: the meaning is: these are those to whom Allah has given Paradise as a consequence of their obedience to their Lord in the worldly life.
… Hurayra, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: May Allah have mercy on Yusuf; what great patience he had! Had I been the one who was imprisoned and then sent for, I would have … authority of ʿIkrima, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: I marvel at Yusuf and his patience and nobility - may Allah forgive him - when he was asked about the lean and fat cows …
The explanation of the words of Allah, the Exalted: {وَقَالَ الْمَلِكُ ائْتُونِي بِهِ فَلَمَّا جَاءَهُ الرَّسُولُ قَالَ ارْجِعْ إِلَى رَبِّكَ فَاسْأَلْهُ مَا بَالُ النِّسْوَةِ اللاتِي قَطَّعْنَ أَيْدِيَهُنَّ إِنَّ رَبِّي بِكَيْدِهِنَّ عَلِيمٌ} (And the king said: "Bring him to me." But when the messenger came to him, he said: "Return to your master and ask him what is the case of the women who cut their hands; verily, my Lord knows well their guile." — 12:50) Abū Jaʿfar says: Allah, the Exalted, says: When the messenger whom she had sent to Yūsuf — the one who had said: {أَنَا أُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِتَأْوِيلِهِ فَأَرْسِلُونِ} — returned and conveyed to them the interpretation of the king's dream from Yūsuf, and the king understood the correctness of what had been conveyed to him as the interpretation of his dream and its validity, the king said: bring me the one who has interpreted my dream. As: 19392 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: Nabū departed from Yūsuf with what he had conveyed to them concerning the interpretation of the king's dream, until he reached the king and told him what Yūsuf had said. When he told him what was in his innermost being, clear as day, and he understood that what he had said would come to pass as he had said, he said: "bring him to me." 19393 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: ʿAmr related to us, on the authority of Asbāṭ, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: When the messenger came back to the king, he said: "bring him to me." * * * His word: (fa-lammā jāʾahu al-rasūlu): when the king's messenger came to him to summon him to the king; (qāla irjiʿ ilā rabbika): Yūsuf said to the messenger: return to your master, (fa-saʾalhu mā bālu al-niswati al-lātī qaṭṭaʿna aydiyahunna)? And he refused to go with the messenger and to accept the king's invitation, until he knew that his reputation with them concerning the matter of the women was sound; he said to the messenger: ask the king what is the condition of the women who cut their hands, and of the woman on account of whom he was imprisoned. As: 19394 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: (fa-lammā jāʾahu al-rasūlu qāla irjiʿ ilā rabbika fa-saʾalhu mā bālu al-niswati al-lātī qaṭṭaʿna aydiyahunna) — and the woman on account of whom he had been imprisoned — concerning what had occurred in that matter. 19395 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: ʿAmr related to us, on the authority of Asbāṭ, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: When the messenger came back to the king and informed him, he said: (iʾtūnī bi-h), but when the messenger came to him and summoned him to the king, Yūsuf refused to go; he said: (irjiʿ ilā rabbika fa-saʾalhu mā bālu al-niswati al-lātī qaṭṭaʿna aydiyahunna) — the āya. Al-Suddī said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: had Yūsuf gone out that day before the king knew what had happened with him, the ʿAzīz would still have held something against him in his …
… relief from the mighty trial in which they were, said to Ishaq: 'Verily, on account of your patience at My command I have granted you a supplication by which I give you what … decreed that, and on account of the excellence that Allah has mentioned of him because of his patience at what he was commanded. Therefore they deny that and claim that it was Ishaq, because Ishaq …
The statement concerning the explanation of His word, the Exalted: ( And We ransomed him with a mighty sacrifice ) (37:107) And His word ( And We ransomed him with a mighty sacrifice ) — by this He says: and We ransomed Isḥāq with a mighty sacrifice. The ransom (fidya) is the compensation. He says: We rewarded him with it by setting, in place of his slaughter, the slaughter of a mighty ram, and We saved him from being slaughtered. The exegetes differed concerning which of the two sons of Ibrāhīm it was who was ransomed from the slaughter. Some said: it is Isḥāq. * Mention of who said that: Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Mubārak, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, on the authority of al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays, on the authority of al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib: ( And We ransomed him with a mighty sacrifice ), he said: it is Isḥāq. Al-Ḥusayn ibn Yazīd ibn Isḥāq related to me, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: the one whose slaughter Ibrāhīm was commanded to perform was Isḥāq. Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: ( And We ransomed him with a mighty sacrifice ), he said: it is Isḥāq. Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of ʿIkrima, he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: the slaughtered one (al-dhabīḥ) is Isḥāq. Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Zayd ibn Ḥubāb related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Dīnār, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Zayd ibn Judʿān, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, on the authority of al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays, on the authority of al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ in a tradition that he mentioned, he said: 'It is Isḥāq.' Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Abū al-Aḥwaṣ, he said: a man boasted in the presence of Ibn Masʿūd and said: 'I am so-and-so, son of so-and-so, descendant of the noble forefathers.' Thereupon ʿAbd Allāh said: 'That is Yūsuf, son of Yaʿqūb, son of Isḥāq, the slaughtered one of Allah, son of Ibrāhīm, the bosom-friend of Allah.' Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mukhtār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakr, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Ḥāritha al-Thaqafī, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, on the authority of Kaʿb, concerning His word ( And We ransomed him with a mighty sacrifice ), he said: of his son Isḥāq. Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Zakariyyā and Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Masrūq, concerning His word ( And We ransomed him with a mighty sacrifice ), he said: …
… spend.") Abu Jaʿfar said: By His words "the patient" (al-sabirin) He means: those who showed patience in adversity and hardship and at the moment of battle (al-baʾs). And by "the truthful" (al-sadiqin … were truthful in the hidden and the open. "And the patient": a people who showed patience in obedience to Allah, and who refrained with patience from what He has forbidden. "And the devoutly obedient": they …
Explanation of the words of Allah: { الصَّابِرِينَ وَالصَّادِقِينَ وَالْقَانِتِينَ وَالْمُنْفِقِينَ } ("The patient, the truthful, the devoutly obedient, and those who spend.") Abū Jaʿfar said: By His words "the patient" (al-ṣābirīn) He means: those who showed patience in adversity and hardship and at the moment of battle (al-baʾs). And by "the truthful" (al-ṣādiqīn) He means: those who were truthful toward Allah in their word by affirming their acknowledgment of Him and of His messenger and of what he has brought from Him, by acting upon what He has commanded them and refraining from what He has forbidden them. And by "the devoutly obedient" (al-qānitīn) He means: those who are obedient to Him. * * * We have already given the explanation of all these words and their meanings, with the proofs for the correctness of what we have said about them, and with the reports of those who have made a statement about it, in what preceded, with that which relieves us from repeating it in this place. * * * Qatāda used to say concerning that what follows: 6752 - Bishr related it to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His words "the patient, the truthful, the devoutly obedient, and those who spend": "the truthful": a people whose mouths spoke truth and whose hearts and tongues were upright, and who were truthful in the hidden and the open. "And the patient": a people who showed patience in obedience to Allah, and who refrained with patience from what He has forbidden. "And the devoutly obedient": they are those who are obedient to Allah. * * * As for "those who spend" (al-munfiqūn), they are those who give the obligatory alms (zakāh) on their possessions and dispense them as Allah has commanded them to give them, and those who spend their possessions in the ways in which Allah, exalted is His praise, has permitted them to spend them. * * * As for "the patient" and "the truthful" and the rest of these words, they stand in the genitive on the basis of being referred back to His words: { الَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا إِنَّنَا آمَنَّا } ("Those who say: Our Lord, indeed we have believed"). And the genitive in these words indicates that His words "those who say" stand in the genitive, on the basis of being referred back to His words: { لِلَّذِينَ اتَّقَوْا عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ } ("for those who are God-fearing, with their Lord"). * * * Explanation of the words of Allah: { وَالْمُسْتَغْفِرِينَ بِالأَسْحَارِ } ("and those who ask for forgiveness in the last hours of the night") (3:17) Abū Jaʿfar said: The scholars of exegesis differed concerning the people whose characteristic this description is. Some of them said: They are those who pray in the last hours of the night. Mention of who said that: 6753 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "and those who ask for forgiveness in the last hours of the night," they are the peo …
… followers of the prophets, when their prophets were killed? For they stood firm against their enemy with patience such as their patience was, and they did not grow weak and did not yield to their … that Allah might help you against them just as they were helped. For Allah loves whoever shows patience for His command and in the jihad against His enemy, and He then grants him help …
The discourse on the explanation of His statement: {وَمَا كَانَ قَوْلَهُمْ إِلا أَنْ قَالُوا رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَإِسْرَافَنَا فِي أَمْرِنَا وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَنَا وَانْصُرْنَا عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْكَافِرِينَ} (147) (And their statement was nothing other than that they said: Our Lord, forgive us our sins and our excess in our affair, and make our feet firm, and help us against the disbelieving people. (3:147)) Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, means by His statement "and their statement was not": and the statement of the devout men (al-ribbiyyūn) was not — and the "hā and mīm" (the suffix "hum") refers to the names of the devout men — "except that they said," that is to say: they had no statement other than this statement, when their prophet was killed. And His statement "Our Lord, forgive us our sins" means: when their prophet was killed, they grasped at nothing for protection other than at patiently enduring what afflicted them, fighting against their enemy, and asking their Lord for forgiveness and for help against their enemy. And the meaning of the statement is: and their statement was nothing other than that they said: Our Lord, forgive us our sins. (76) * * * And as for "al-isrāf" (excess): that is going beyond the limit in something. One says of that: "so-and-so has acted excessively (asrafa) in this affair," when he exceeds its measure and goes to extremes. * * * And its meaning here is: forgive us our sins — the minor of them, and that in which we have been excessive, such that we passed on to the major ones. And the meaning of the statement is: forgive us our sins, the minor of them and the major of them. As: 7987 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the statement of Allah "and our excess in our affair," he said: our errors. 7988 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "and our excess in our affair": our errors and our wronging of ourselves. 7989 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Sulaymān informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk concerning his statement "and our excess in our affair," he means: the major errors. 7990 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Tumayla related to us, on the authority of ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim, he said: the major sins (al-kabāʾir). 7991 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, saying: Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning "and our excess in our affair," he said: our errors. 7992 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: …
… Exalted, praised be His mention, says: and Allah rewarded them, on account of their patience in this world in obedience to Him and in performing what was pleasing to Him, with a garden (janna … they endured with a garden and silk"): he says: and He rewarded them, on account of their patience in obedience to Allah and their patience in refraining from disobedience to Him and what …
The Exalted, praised be His mention, says: and Allah rewarded them, on account of their patience in this world in obedience to Him and in performing what was pleasing to Him, with a garden (janna) and silk. And in accordance with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken. * Mention of who said that: Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning { wa-jazāhum bimā ṣabarū jannatan wa-ḥarīran } ("and He rewarded them for what they endured with a garden and silk"): he says: and He rewarded them, on account of their patience in obedience to Allah and their patience in refraining from disobedience to Him and what He has forbidden, with a garden and silk.
… وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْمَرْحَمَةِ } (17) ("Then he was among those who believed and enjoined one another to patience and enjoined one another to compassion"). The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: then this … that he believes along with them just as they believed. { وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ } ("and enjoined one another to patience") - He says: and [they were] among those who enjoined one another to patience regarding what befell them …
The statement concerning the interpretation of His word, the Exalted: { ثُمَّ كَانَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْمَرْحَمَةِ } (17) ("Then he was among those who believed and enjoined one another to patience and enjoined one another to compassion"). The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: then this one who said { أَهْلَكْتُ مَالا لُبَدًا } ("I have squandered an immense fortune") was among those who believed in Allah and His Messenger, so that he believes along with them just as they believed. { وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ } ("and enjoined one another to patience") — He says: and [they were] among those who enjoined one another to patience regarding what befell them for the sake of Allah. { وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْمَرْحَمَةِ } ("and enjoined one another to compassion") — He says: and they enjoined one another to compassion. As Muḥammad ibn Sinān and al-Qazzāz related to us, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of Shabīb, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: { وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْمَرْحَمَةِ }. He said: compassion toward the people.
… reward those who do good"). The Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, says: We rewarded Nuh for his patience under the trial with which We tested him for Our sake, by guiding him and giving … guided him. And just as We rewarded these for their excellent obedience to Us and their patience under the trials for Our sake, so do We reward with good everyone who does good …
The discourse on the explanation of His statement: {وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُ إِسْحَاقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ كُلًّا هَدَيْنَا وَنُوحًا هَدَيْنَا مِنْ قَبْلُ وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِهِ دَاوُدَ وَسُلَيْمَانَ وَأَيُّوبَ وَيُوسُفَ وَمُوسَى وَهَارُونَ وَكَذَلِكَ نَجْزِي الْمُحْسِنِينَ} (84) (And We bestowed upon him Isḥāq and Yaʿqūb; all of them We guided, and Nūḥ We guided before, and from his progeny Dāwūd and Sulaymān and Ayyūb and Yūsuf and Mūsā and Hārūn; and thus do We reward those who do good.) (84) Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, says: We rewarded Ibrāhīm — peace be upon him — for his obedience to Us, for his sincere devotion to the oneness (tawḥīd) of his Lord, and for his break with the religion of his people, the polytheists who ascribed partners to Allah (mushrikīn), by raising his rank in the highest heavens, granting him his reward in this world, and bestowing upon him children whom We distinguished with prophethood, and a progeny whom We ennobled from Ourselves with honor and privileged above the worlds. Among them are: his son Isḥāq, and the son of his son, Yaʿqūb. {كُلًّا هَدَيْنَا} ("all of them We guided"), He says: We guided them all upon the path of righteousness, and We gave them right understanding of the truth and of what is correct among the religions. {وَنُوحًا هَدَيْنَا مِنْ قَبْلُ} ("and Nūḥ We guided before"), He says: and We guided him to the same to which We guided Ibrāhīm, Isḥāq and Yaʿqūb, of the truth and what is correct, and We gave it to him — namely Nūḥ — before Ibrāhīm, Isḥāq and Yaʿqūb. * * * {وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِهِ دَاوُدَ} ("and from his progeny Dāwūd"). The "hāʾ" (the personal pronoun) in His statement {وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِهِ} ("and from his progeny") refers to Nūḥ. The reason for this is that Allah, the Exalted, whose praise is proclaimed, in the course of the verses that follow this verse mentioned Lūṭ, for He said: {وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَالْيَسَعَ وَيُونُسَ وَلُوطًا وَكُلًّا فَضَّلْنَا عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ} (And Ismāʿīl and al-Yasaʿ and Yūnus and Lūṭ; and all of them We favored above the worlds). Now, it is known that Lūṭ did not belong to the progeny of Ibrāhīm — Allah's peace be upon them all. Since this is so, and since he is joined to the names of those whom We have named as his progeny, there is no doubt that — if by "the progeny" the progeny of Ibrāhīm were meant — Yūnus and Lūṭ would not be included therein. And there is no doubt that Lūṭ does not belong to the progeny of Ibrāhīm, but rather to the progeny of Nūḥ. Therefore it is necessary that the "hāʾ" in "the progeny" refers to Nūḥ. The explanation of the words is thus: and to Nūḥ We gave understanding of the truth and what is correct, before Ibrāhīm, Isḥāq and Yaʿqūb, and likewise We guided from the progeny of Nūḥ: Dāwūd and Sulaymān. "Dāwūd" is Dāwūd, the son of Īshā. "Sulaymān" is his son: Sulaymān, the son of Dāwūd. "Ayyūb" is Ayyūb, the son of Mawṣ, the son of Razāḥ, the son of ʿĪṣ, the son of Isḥāq, the son of Ibrāhīm. "Yūsuf" is Yūsuf, the son of …
… free women, because you were created weak, unable to refrain from sexual intercourse with women, having little patience to abstain from that. For this reason He has permitted you to marry your believing slave-women … marry a free woman, so that you would not commit fornication (zina) on account of your scant patience in refraining from sexual intercourse with women. * * * And in accordance with what we have said concerning this …
The explanation of His word: {يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَنْ يُخَفِّفَ عَنْكُمْ وَخُلِقَ الإِنْسَانُ ضَعِيفًا} (Allah wishes to lighten [the burden] for you, and man was created weak) (28). Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted means by His word: "Allah wishes to lighten [the burden] for you" — Allah wishes to make it easy for you, by permitting you to marry believing slave-women (slave-girls) when you do not have the means to marry a free woman — "and man was created weak," that is to say: He has made this easy for you when you do not have the means to marry free women, because you were created weak, unable to refrain from sexual intercourse with women, having little patience to abstain from that. For this reason He has permitted you to marry your believing slave-women when you fear for yourselves unlawful intercourse (ʿanat) and you do not find the means to marry a free woman, so that you would not commit fornication (zinā) on account of your scant patience in refraining from sexual intercourse with women. * * * And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes have spoken. * Mention of those who said that: 9135 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "Allah wishes to lighten [the burden] for you" — concerning the marrying of the slave-woman (ama), and in everything in which there is lightening. 9136 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Ṭāwūs, on the authority of his father: "and man was created weak," he said: in the matter of sexual intercourse. 9137 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Ṭāwūs, on the authority of his father: "and man was created weak," he said: in the matter of women. 9138 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Ibn Ṭāwūs, on the authority of his father: "and man was created weak," he said: in the matters of women. Man is weaker in nothing than in the case of women. 9139 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "Allah wishes to lighten [the burden] for you," he said: He gave you permission to marry these slave-women (imāʾ) when you were compelled to it — "and man was created weak," he said: Had He not given him permission therein, there would have been only the first ruling, namely when he does not find a free woman.
… worldly life is an abode of trial, and that He tests them therein. He commanded them patience and announced to them the glad tidings, and said: "And give glad tidings to the patient ones." Then … glad tidings concerning the severe trials with which He puts them to the test - the people of patience, whose characteristic Allah has described, for special favor. * * * The root meaning of "al-tabshir" (the giving …
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: {وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ بِشَيْءٍ مِنَ الْخَوْفِ وَالْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِنَ الأَمْوَالِ وَالأَنْفُسِ وَالثَّمَرَاتِ وَبَشِّرِ الصَّابِرِينَ} (155) (And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger, and with a diminution of possessions, lives, and fruits. And give glad tidings to the patient ones — 2:155) Abū Jaʿfar said: This is an announcement from Allah — exalted be His remembrance — to the followers of His Messenger ﷺ, that He will test them and put them to the trial with severe trials in all sorts of matters, so that He may know who follows the Messenger and who turns back on his heels, just as He tested them and put them to the trial with the change of the direction of prayer (qibla) from Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis) to the Kaʿba, and just as He put His elect before them to the trial. He promised them this also in another verse, where He said to them: {أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَنْ تَدْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَأْتِكُمْ مَثَلُ الَّذِينَ خَلَوْا مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ مَسَّتْهُمُ الْبَأْسَاءُ وَالضَّرَّاءُ وَزُلْزِلُوا حَتَّى يَقُولَ الرَّسُولُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَعَهُ مَتَى نَصْرُ اللَّهِ أَلا إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللَّهِ قَرِيبٌ} [Surah Al-Baqarah: 214] (Or did you think that you would enter Paradise (janna) while the example of those who passed away before you has not yet come to you? Adversity and hardship touched them, and they were so shaken that the Messenger and those who believed with him said: "When will the help of Allah come?" Verily, the help of Allah is near — 2:214). And in the spirit of what we have said about this, Ibn ʿAbbās and others used to speak. 2325 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: "And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger," and the rest of this. He said: Allah informed the believers that the worldly life is an abode of trial, and that He tests them therein. He commanded them patience and announced to them the glad tidings, and said: "And give glad tidings to the patient ones." Then He informed them that He acted thus with His prophets and His elect, so that their hearts might be set at ease, and He said: {مَسَّتْهُمُ الْبَأْسَاءُ وَالضَّرَّاءُ وَزُلْزِلُوا} (Adversity and hardship touched them, and they were shaken). * * * The meaning of His saying "And We will surely test you" (wa-la-nabluwannakum) is: and We will surely put you to the trial. We have already previously expounded that the meaning of "al-ibtilāʾ" (the trial) is the putting to the test, in what preceded. * * * And His saying "with something of fear" means: of the fear of the enemy. And "hunger" — that is famine. He says: We will surely put you to the trial with something of fear that befalls you from your enemy, and with a year of drought that befalls you in which hunger and privation befall you, and in which the obtaining of t …
… possessions - this as an indication that I will tread the same path with you, if you exercise patience as he exercised patience and you fulfill the task of conveying the message to those to whom …
And His saying: {إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لآيَةً} (Therein is surely a sign) — Allah, exalted be His remembrance, says: In what I did to Pharaoh and his companions — namely that I drowned them in the sea because they had denied My messenger Mūsā and had transgressed My command after I had given them a warning and had warned them — therein is a clear proof, O Muḥammad, for your people of the Quraysh, that this is My way of dealing with everyone who treads their path of denying My messengers. And therein is an admonition for them and a lesson, that they may remember and take heed, so that they do not do the same as what they did — namely deny you despite the proof and the signs that you have brought them — for otherwise the same punishment will befall them as befell them. And for you there is a sign in what I did to Mūsā and in My rescuing him after his prolonged striving against Pharaoh and his people, and in My clear victory for him and My granting to him and his people as inheritance their houses, their land, and their possessions — this as an indication that I will tread the same path with you, if you exercise patience as he exercised patience and you fulfill the task of conveying the message to those to whom I have sent you as he fulfilled it. And I will grant you victory over those who deny you and exalt you above them. {وَمَا كَانَ أَكْثَرُهُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ} (And most of them were not believers) — He says: And most of your people, O Muḥammad, did not believe in the clear Truth that Allah had brought you — it was already fixed in My foreknowledge that they would not believe.
… tura" with damma on the taʾ, in the meaning: what do you advise, and what [sign] of patience or distress at the slaughtering are you shown? And the more correct of the two readings … that he would know what his son possessed of resolve: whether he was among those who show patience at the command of Allah in the manner in which he [Ibrahim] did so, so that …
And His words: { فَلَمَّا بَلَغَ مَعَهُ السَّعْيَ } ("And when he reached with him the age of striving"). He says: and when the boy of whom the glad tidings had been given to Ibrāhīm reached, together with Ibrāhīm, the age for labor — and that is the striving (al-saʿy) — and that was when he was able to help him in his work. And the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed over the meaning of that. Some of them said something along the lines of what we have said about it. * Mention of who said that: ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words: { فَلَمَّا بَلَغَ مَعَهُ السَّعْيَ } ("And when he reached with him the age of striving"), he says: the work. Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both of them — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His words: { فَلَمَّا بَلَغَ مَعَهُ السَّعْيَ } ("And when he reached with him the age of striving"), he said: when he grew up so that his working reached the working of Ibrāhīm in labor. Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same, except that he said: when he grew up until he reached his [capacity for] working. Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Mujāhid: { فَلَمَّا بَلَغَ مَعَهُ السَّعْيَ } ("And when he reached with him the age of striving"), he said: the working of Ibrāhīm. Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Sahl ibn Yūsuf related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Mujāhid: { فَلَمَّا بَلَغَ مَعَهُ السَّعْيَ } ("And when he reached with him the age of striving"): the working of Ibrāhīm. Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His words: { فَلَمَّا بَلَغَ مَعَهُ السَّعْيَ } ("And when he reached with him the age of striving"), he said: the striving (al-saʿy) here is religious devotion (al-ʿibāda). And others said: its meaning is: when he walked along with Ibrāhīm. * Mention of who said that: Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: { فَلَمَّا بَلَغَ مَعَهُ السَّعْيَ } ("And when he reached with him the age of striving"): that is, when he walked along with his father. And His words: { قَالَ يَا بُنَيَّ إِنِّي أَرَى فِي الْمَنَامِ أَنِّي أَذْبَحُكَ } ("He said: O my little son, I see in the dream that I am slaughtering you"). The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: Ibrāhīm, the intimate friend of the Most Merciful, said to his son: { يَا بُنَيَّ إِنِّي أَرَى فِي الْمَنَامِ أَنِّي أَذْبَحُكَ } ("O my li …
… order to strengthen your heart thereby and to give you courage, so that you may exercise patience toward what has reached you of harm from your people for the sake of Allah, and that … know that those before you among the messengers of Allah - when they exercised patience toward what befell them therein, accepted forgiveness, enjoined the good, and turned away from the ignorant - attained the victory, were supported …
The explanation of the word of Allah, the Exalted: { ذَلِكَ مِنْ أَنْبَاءِ الْغَيْبِ نُوحِيهِ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا كُنْتَ لَدَيْهِمْ إِذْ أَجْمَعُوا أَمْرَهُمْ وَهُمْ يَمْكُرُونَ } (102) Abū Jaʿfar said: the Exalted says: this report which We have related to you concerning the history of Yūsuf and his father Yaʿqūb and his brothers, and all the rest in this sūra { من أنباء الغيب } — He says: belongs to the reports of the unseen (al-ghayb) which you did not witness nor see with your own eyes; but We reveal it to you and make it known to you in order to strengthen your heart thereby and to give you courage, so that you may exercise patience toward what has reached you of harm from your people for the sake of Allah, and that you may know that those before you among the messengers of Allah — when they exercised patience toward what befell them therein, accepted forgiveness, enjoined the good, and turned away from the ignorant — attained the victory, were supported with aid, were established in the land, and got the better of those whom they pursued among their enemies and the enemies of the religion of Allah. Allah, blessed and exalted, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: take them, O Muḥammad, as an example, and follow in their footsteps. { وما كنت لديهم إذ أجمعوا أمرهم وهم يمكرون } — He says: you were not present with the brothers of Yūsuf when they were of one mind and in agreement, and their resolve was firmly determined, that they would cast Yūsuf into the depth of the well. And that was their plotting concerning which Allah ﷻ said: { وهم يمكرون }, as: 19951 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yūnus related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: { وما كنت لديهم } — by it he means Muḥammad ﷺ — He says: you were not with them while they cast him into the depth of the well; { وهم يمكرون } — that is to say: against Yūsuf. 19952 — al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ al-Khurāsānī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: { وما كنت لديهم إذ أجمعوا أمرهم وهم يمكرون } — the Āya — he said: those are the sons of Yaʿqūb.
… Allah." And His word: { وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ } - He says: and they have enjoined one another to abide by patience (sabr) in acting in obedience to Allah. In line with what we have said about this … saying: Saʿid related to us, on the authority of Qatada, concerning { وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ }: he said: "Al-sabr (patience) is obedience to Allah." ʿImran ibn Bakkar al-Kulaʿi related to me, saying: Khattab ibn ʿUthman related …
{ إِلَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ } — He says: except those who have affirmed Allah and honored Him in His Oneness (tawḥīd), and who have acknowledged His Oneness and His obedience, and who have performed righteous deeds, and who have fulfilled what was imposed upon them of His obligatory ordinances (farāʾiḍ), and who have abstained from what He has forbidden them of acts of disobedience to Him. He has excepted the believers from "man," because "man" (al-insān) has the meaning of the plural, not the meaning of the singular. And His word: { وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ } — He says: and they have enjoined one another to abide by acting in accordance with what Allah has sent down in His Book, of His commands, and avoiding what He has forbidden therein. In line with what we have said about this, the exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken. * Mention of who said this: Bishr related to me, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning { وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ }: "Al-ḥaqq (the Truth) is the Book of Allah." Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning { وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ }: he said: "Al-ḥaqq is the Book of Allah." ʿImrān ibn Bakkār al-Kulāʿī related to me, saying: Khaṭṭāb ibn ʿUthmān related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Sinān Abū Rūḥ al-Sukūnī — a man from Ḥimṣ whom I met in Armenia — related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḥasan say concerning { وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ }: "Al-ḥaqq is the Book of Allah." And His word: { وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ } — He says: and they have enjoined one another to abide by patience (ṣabr) in acting in obedience to Allah. In line with what we have said about this, the exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken. * Mention of who said this: Bishr related to me, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning { وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ }: he said: "Al-ṣabr (patience) is obedience to Allah." ʿImrān ibn Bakkār al-Kulāʿī related to me, saying: Khaṭṭāb ibn ʿUthmān related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Sinān Abū Rūḥ related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḥasan say concerning the word: { وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ }: "Al-ṣabr is obedience to Allah." Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning { وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ }: he said: "Al-ṣabr is obedience to Allah." End of the tafsīr of Sūrat Wa-l-ʿAṣr.
… your forgiveness toward whoever did you wrong the wrongdoing of the wrongdoer, and by your patience toward them the detestable thing that you experience from them and what befalls you from their side … بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ} ("Repel by that which is better"), he said: Allah has commanded the believers to patience at the moment of anger, and to forbearance and forgiveness at the moment of wrongdoing; and when …
And His statement: {وَلا تَسْتَوِي الْحَسَنَةُ وَلا السَّيِّئَةُ} ("And the good deed and the evil deed are not equal"). The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: and not equal are the good deed of those who said "Our Lord is Allah" and then remained steadfast, and who acted well in their word and in their giving ear to and turning toward that to which He called them of His obedience, and who called the servants of Allah to the like of that in which they gave ear to their Lord — and the evil deed of those who said: {لا تَسْمَعُوا لِهَذَا الْقُرْآنِ وَالْغَوْا فِيهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَغْلِبُونَ} ("Do not listen to this Qurʾān, and make clamor amid it, that perhaps you may prevail"). Thus their states and their ranks with Allah are not equal, but they differ, just as the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, has described that He has distinguished between the two. And the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, said: {وَلا تَسْتَوِي الْحَسَنَةُ وَلا السَّيِّئَةُ} ("And the good deed and the evil deed are not equal"), and He repeated "lā" (not); and the meaning is: not equal are the good deed and the evil deed. For everything that is not equal to a thing, to it that thing to which it is not equal is in turn not equal — just as everything that is equal to a thing, to which that other is in turn equal, is equal to it. One says: so-and-so is equal to so-and-so, and so-and-so is equal to him; likewise: so-and-so is not equal to so-and-so, nor is so-and-so equal to him. For this reason "lā" was repeated with "the evil deed"; and even had it not been repeated with it, the sentence would have been correct. And one of the grammarians of Basra used to say: it is permissible to say that the second "lā" is redundant, by which he means: not equal are ʿAbd Allāh and Zayd, "lā" having been added for emphasis, as He said: {لِئَلا يَعْلَمَ أَهْلُ الْكِتَابِ أَلا يَقْدِرُونَ} ("so that the People of the Book may know that they have no power"), that is to say: so that they may know; and as He said: {لا أُقْسِمُ بِيَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ * وَلا أُقْسِمُ بِالنَّفْسِ اللَّوَّامَةِ} ("I swear by the Day of Resurrection * and I swear by the self-reproaching soul"). And some of them rejected this statement concerning {لِئَلا يَعْلَمَ أَهْلُ الْكِتَابِ} ("so that the People of the Book may know") and concerning His statement {لا أُقْسِمُ} ("I swear"), and they said: the second "lā" in His statement {لِئَلا يَعْلَمَ أَهْلُ الْكِتَابِ} ("so that the People of the Book may know") — namely "an lā yaqdirūn" ("that they have no power") — is restored to its own place, for the negation attaches only to "yaqdirūn" (they have power), not to "the knowing," just as one says: "I do not think that Zayd does not stand up," in the meaning: "I think that Zayd does not stand up." He said: and sometimes they reinforce the expression and place it both at the front and at the rear; and sometimes they suffice with the first in place of the second. And it has been related — as heard from the Arabs: "mā ka- …
